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Brattle Senior Advisor Matthew Kahn Quoted in New York Times Article on Hybrid Car Privileges in California

Matthew Kahn, a Brattle senior advisor and Professor of Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, was recently quoted in a recent New York Times article on the privileges extended to hybrid car owners in California.

The article, “Hybrid Owners Look to Extend Carpool Privilege,” discusses the mandate set forth in California in 2004 allowing all hybrid vehicles access to highway carpool lanes, so long as they had the clean-air vehicle decal on their car. After being extended twice by legislature upon its original expiration date in 2008, the mandate is now set to officially expire July 1, 2011.

Dr. Kahn, whose research focuses on environmental, urban, and energy economics, including the study of hybrid owners, said in the article that owners of the clean-air vehicles are “a mixture of people wanting to signal their virtuousness and people wanting to get to work quickly.” Los Angeles County alone is home to over 27,000 hybrid cars allowed to drive in carpool lanes.

Despite the growing number of drivers currently allowed this privilege, state legislators say lobbying for an extension is unlikely to yield any results.

To read the article in its entirety, please visit the New York Times website.